| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Cuckoo | | By William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | From “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Act V. Scene 2 |
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WHEN daisies pied and violets blue, | |
| And lady-smocks all silver-white, | |
| And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue | |
| Do paint the meadows with delight, | |
| The cuckoo then, on every tree, | 5 |
| Mocks married men; and thus sings he, | |
| Cuckoo! | |
| Cuckoo, cuckoo!—O word of fear, | |
| Unpleasing to a married ear! | |
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| When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, | 10 |
| And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks, | |
| When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, | |
| And maidens bleach their summer smocks | |
| The cuckoo then, on every tree, | |
| Mocks married men; for thus sings he, | 15 |
| Cuckoo! | |
| Cuckoo, cuckoo!—O word of fear, | |
| Unpleasing to a married ear! | | | |
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